Hey all, hoping someone can chime in here. Ime closing in on my mid 50s, and have fallen far out of shape. The past decade has been a loss (physically) and covid made it worse. Post covid i have discovered that ive lost all willpower/discipline when it comes to dieting. I've lost considerable amounts of weight twice in my life, and both times slagged off and put it all back on for various reasons/excuses. My recent efforts have just all fallen flat.
Ongoing depression finally forced my hand, to do a couple of things I was previously very resistant to... I got my testosterone checked, and it was low, so I have gotten testopel treatment.. and that has made a definite difference in several ways. I always said I would not supplement testosterone... But I feel better today than I have in years. It hasn't been a cure all, but in general, it has made me feel better. The second thing, was finally getting on the standard GLP1. Again, something I never thought I would do, but again, desperate times...
For more background, I am a generally large framed man with a comfortably fit weight of around 260-280. Less than that I start to look sickly. However, I am well above that, and around 340, though I am losing. I am going to the gym and since I am doing solo workouts, mostly using machines, and still trying to figure out the weight ranges to use on them. It has been a slow process. I have always worked out with free weights, but I feel safer now on the machines, since I don't have a spotter. Right now I am just doing a push day, a pull day and a leg day. As I proceed I plan on adding reps to duplicate muscle groups in each of these.. but right now, I am just doing 3 sets of each exercise.
My primary focus is currently to keep moving and keep at it in the gym. I do not expect to get ripped, but I do want to build muscle.. I hope that getting some power back is possible. Anyhow, I felt like that was all a lot of background for my main question... Is a whey powder like Gold Standard something I should be taking to supplement my exercising? I used it when I was very regularly in the gym before, but I was also younger and much more fit. I didn't know if that owuld be considered flushing money down the toilet or not. I have already ordered some Creatine HCL, on the recommendation of a trainer at the gym. I have done some reading on it, and realize there is some debate on if it is better than Creatine monohydrate, worse, or generally undecided... But I figured something was better than nothing, and I didn't want to deal with possible side effects from the monohydrate.
At any rate, I appreciate any input that anyone more learned on the topic can offer.
Thanks!
I am a much smaller frame, 5'11 @ 180 lbs. When I quit drinking, I was up to 250lbs for a bit, but I just stopped eating as much and I lost the weight. Even when I got a belly a time or two before that, I never went on a diet: I adjusted my habits completely. (Or just drank more black coffee... Not a healthy option, but it was an option that suppressed hunger and got me out of the get-hungry-more-because-I-was-eating-more cycle.)
These days, I just run. Cardio can really suck ass at times, but it works wonders. Once you get into extended aerobic exercise, your body has to burn fat for energy at higher rates. (I am absolutely lacking on the anaerobic side of things except for the sprints I do every week.)
Big, small, tall or short, your body needs protein. It needs more protein when you work out. Whey protein is the "gold standard", but usually because it's effective and usually a good value. Hydrolyzed protein is easier for your body to take in because it's (essentially) partially digested proteins. (It's easier on my stomach as well, which is why I take it.)
I would speculate that your protein intake calculation is not going to be near what you think it will be, or even close to what the interwebs will tell you (it's all weight based calculations) until you get your fat to muscle ratio closer to whatever a "normal" ratio is so take that into account.
You didn't ask for any opinion of mine, so take this with a grain of salt. It's just my thoughts on supplementation in general, but you do you.
My method for adjusting any system is to establish a stable baseline first, before all else. If the system is stabilizing or going through massive changes, tuning that system for performance is the last thing on my list.
Supplements didn't make sense to me until I actually started to need them and had some kind of stable system to work with after months of learning to run again. By all means, supplement but supplement when it is measurably effective. (Protein powder is expensive for what it is, and you shouldn't just literally piss it out if your body doesn't need it.)